Kourakuen(Hakodate) — Restaurant in Hakodate

One of the two good yakinuku places we ate at in Hakodate (check my review for the other one that is not too far from this shop), good food and good service. Meat quality is great. (But their lamb is a bit high in price and not exactly super special) Their tables are all partitioned with sliding doors so that every table gets at least its own space and privacy (but that doesn't do too much for the noise level, if you get loud and excited diners next door, you still get hear them pretty clearly 😉) Their service is really fast too, generally once you press the bell, within seconds someone will be opening your door to attend to you. As for reservations, I would say in Japan, as a general rule of thumb, if you are traveling during "peak" season and/or esp in larger group (we have 6 people), always call and make reservations. Also, in smaller towns/cities (unlike Tokyo, Osaka type), plan your yakiniku dinner before 8pm (I suggest 6pm or latest 7pm), otherwise the chance for a Lawson dinner is gonna be quite high 😜 I think most yakiniku restaurants might not take customer if it's within an hour of their closing time, as they might want to make sure you have enough...

Amazing, high quality yakiniku spot in Hakodate serving A4/A5 beef for really reasonable prices. There are several "levels" of fattiness they serve. We ordered the second level up beef tongue, second level up prime rib, and the lowest level harami (lean beef). We also added the kimchi assortment, stone pot bibimbap, veggie assortment, and a cold noodle.

Every piece was beautifully and consistently marbled, and so tender and delicious! I honestly thought the prime rib was too rich, so you definitely don't need to get the highest grade of everything. You get to choose whether you want your meat with salt (shio) or marinated (tare), opting for shio for the prime rib and tongue and the sauce for the leaner meat.

Their cabbage kimchi rivals some of the best I've had. Cold noodle was more Japanese style: no mustard and thicker, chewier noodle. They also use charcoal, which really enhances the flavor of the fatty beef.

This place blows the yakiniku spot we went to in Ginza out of the water. I can't remember the exact amount we spent, but probably around $65 USD / ¥8000-¥9000. Worth every single penny. I wish I ate here both days I was...

Some drunk people are around, the waiters are extreme rude to people who can’t speak English - it was -10 degree outside and we used translator to tell them we would appreciate if they allowed us to google a bit of other restaurants around as their restaurant was fully booked, guess what the waiter did? They directly opened the door, pretending they were polite but just force us to go out. We were shocked by their uncivilised behaviour and rude manners. Totally disgusting service, please avoid it, as there are other places providing decent meat. Really, really disappointed and the waiters’ behaviour was 100% unacceptable - it was a disgrace to Japan and Hakodate’s reputation. Actually in terms of the service, this restaurant, for foreign tourists, is totally not worth the high rating. Maybe it was good, but now it couldn’t live up to the...